BLOOMINGBURG, NY – You all remember going back to school after summer vacation and the first assignment was usually 
a writing assignment called “What I Did On My Summer Vacation?” Today, I’m penning a condensed version detailing, “My Sports Sunday.”
The day started early with a group bus trip to PNC Field in Scranton, PA. It’s home to the New York Yankees Triple A affiliate the Railriders (who DJ Eberle covers) and they just happened to be playing the Mets’ minor club, the Syracuse Mets. The field itself is a sprawling 10,000 seat capacity venue with nice sight-lines of the field no matter what section you’re sitting. The stadium looks like it was built recently and has all the amenities of a modern day MLB park, but without the exorbitant prices. $7 beers are a soft blow to the wallet compared to the big leagues.
It was a beautiful day and as the Ernie Banks quote goes, “Let’s play two” was actually on the schedule after an earlier rain-out created the two-for-one special. I’m not a baseball diehard any more but I was able to recognize some names on both rosters and it was a tell tale sign of the direction of the parent clubs. The Yankees have been a mash unit most of the season and through these call-ups you get to see the organizational depth in Scranton. Mike Tauchman was the only Railriders player I was familiar but the Syracuse Mets had a number of names trying to work their way back to Flushing. Thirty-nine year old Rene Rivera is catching for Syracuse and some guy named Tebow is hitting a buck-fifty trying to man the outfield. Is this how you build your triple-A team? Rubén Dario Tejada, who homered in the first game, is in Syracuse along with Dilson Herrera, Gregor Blanco, and Rajai Davis. Syracuse is 30-32 for the year while the Railriders with all their roster moves are ten games over .500. You can just tell by the product on the field who the better organization is. The Railriders swept the doubleheader. ‘Nuff said.
So I got my drunken self home in plenty of time to walk the dog [ahem], have something to eat and settle in for the Boston Bruins elimination game in this year’s Stanley Cup Final. I didn’t know what to expect as I have previously reported the lack of momentum carrying over from game to game. Maybe it has something to do with the extra day off when changing venues but I’m not sure. There’s been some god awful officiating in this series and the entire playoffs alone. It’s hard to determine how the games are going to play out because of how the officials may call the game on a given night.
All of this made me nervous, as I watched. Tuukka Rask was up to the task early and Brad Marchand scored the game’s first goal and the B’s are 24-1 when he hits the back of the net in the playoffs. It was settling but the game was still a 1-0 game going into the third until the Bruins ultimately pulled away for a 5-1 win.
I can breathe now.
Sports fans and puck heads have gotten what they crave; a Game 7 for all the marbles Wednesday night up in Boston. I’ll be sweating and screaming while my ass takes a bite out of whatever seat I’ll be in.
Let’s Go Bruins!
Speaking of bears, come back tomorrow for a grizzly of a man, Big Ben Whitney.
